Cleveland Cavaliers lose Tyronn Lue’s debut to the Chicago Bulls

Tyronn Lue didn’t make much of a difference in his coaching debut at Cleveland as Pau Gasol scored 25 points, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 96-83 win over the Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Lue was promoted Friday, when the Cavaliers fired David Blatt despite him taking the team to the NBA Finals last season and currently leading the Eastern Conference. The coaching swap didn’t have an impact as the Bulls outhustled the Cavaliers to loose balls and won for just the third time in nine games.

Chicago opened a 17-point lead in the third quarter and never let the Cavaliers get closer than eight in the fourth quarter.

LeBron James just missed his first triple-double this season, finishing with 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. J.R. Smith added 18 points for the Cavaliers, who shot 37% from the field and were only nine for 22 from the three-throw line.

When the final horn sounded, the Cavaliers were booed by the fans at Cleveland.

at Minnesota 106, Memphis 101: Shabazz Muhammad scored 25 points and the Timberwolves snapped the Grizzlies’ four-game winning streak. Ricky Rubio had 15 points, 12 assists and six rebounds and Andrew Wiggins scored 19 points for Minnesota, which beat a team with a winning record for the first time since Nov. 25. Mario Chalmers scored 19 points for the banged-up Grizzlies. Marc Gasol played through pain and finished with 17 points in 32 minutes. Memphis trailed by one and had the ball with 35 seconds to play but was whistled for a five-second call on the inbound. The Timberwolves led by 16 in the second quarter but were in danger of losing their 12th game this season when leading by at least 10 points when Matt Barnes’ three-pointer tied the score, 99-99, with two minutes to play.

at New Orleans, Milwaukee 99: Ryan Anderson scored 23 points and tied a season-high with six three-point field goals, leading the hot-shooting Pelicans, made a season-best 17 of 31 three-point attempts. New Orleans trailed 71-69 after Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton scored 14 points in the first nine minutes of the third quarter, but the Pelicans responded with a 31-14 run. Jrue Holiday, Toney Douglas, Tyreke Evans and Anderson all hit three-pointers during that stretch, and Anderson’s sixth three-pointer gave the Pelicans a 100-83 lead with 6:30 left. Anthony Davis had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists for New Orleans. Milwaukee had all five starters in double figures but got only 16 points from its reserves. New Orleans had 57 points from its bench.

at Charlotte 97, New York 84: Jeremy Lin and Kemba Walker scored 26 points each, and the Hornets got their third win in the last four games. Lin and Walker were a combined 19 for 19 from the free-throw line. Charlotte shot 34% from the field, but made 32 of 37 free throws as a team. P.J. Hairston chipped in with a season-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who beat the Knicks for the fifth straight time at home despite being without five players, including three starters. Derrick Williams led the Knicks with 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Kristaps Porzingis had 13 points. Robin Lopez played only three minutes in the second half for the Knicks and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Carmelo Anthony played 29 minutes and had nine points on four-for-11 shooting. Charlotte outscored New York, 32-13, in the third quarter to open a 21-point lead behind 11 points from Lin and seven from Hairston, who had two nifty drives to the hole including a three-point play.

Atlanta at Phoenix, late

Detroit at Denver, late

Indiana at Sacramento, late

Lakers at Portland, late